YouTube Experiments With 3D Video Viewing
Though still very much in experimental mode, a YouTube developer has built a stereoscopic player—a fancy way of saying you can already view some YouTube videos in 3D. The project is open for testing now.
In the screenshot above you can see what the video looks like when playing in 3D mode. Embedded below is what the source video looks like when taken with a stereoscopic camera.
To enable 3D viewing, use the “yt3d:enable=true” tag on your video. There are currently a total of 10 3D viewing styles to choose from, including “Focus-Thru”, “Cross-eyed” and “Mirror Split”, and they work on various videos containing the right tags, like this one.
Other current tags (all subject to change) include:
yt3d:aspect=3:4 Sets the aspect of the encoded video.
yt3d:swap=true Swaps the left and right sources. You may need to add this to videos when the player with fixed anaglyph modes ships. Apologies for the [inconvenience].yt3d:left=0_0.1_0.5_0.9 and yt3d:right=0.5_0.1_1_0.9 These tags are very provisional and most useful for fixing up old videos. They set the source area for each eye as pairs of coordinates x1_y1_x2_y2. The scale of these coordinates is 0,0 for the the top left down to 1,1 for the bottom right.
The developer in question, identified as YouTubePete, says that “ideally you shouldn’t use left and right”, and that for the best quality videos, “make the sources as large as possible within the frame and set yt3d:aspect correctly”.
Test out the 3D feature for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments.
YouTube Testing 3D Videos (YT3D) [SEORoundTable via Gizmodo]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I was thinking about this this morning. I thought it would never happen and I would laugh if it did.
weirdalfan27
I only have one good eye. :(
Sabbatai
@ryno365: There are already screens that support this. I dont remember the model or even the company but I do remember them being shown in an article in a certain issue of Game Informer.
Dan Harrington
@greasypigarvin:
Yeah, I just tried it with 3D glasses I got in the mail from Ford awhile back when they were showcasing some of there 2010 cars and my eyes watered and hurt like hell. I could take a total of 7 seconds of it tops.
aceofcakes
I'll be impressed by 3d-Tech when we wont need glasses for it.
ryno365
I dunno about you, but I did the magic eye technique on that sample video and it did not show 3d, just random glitchyness.
Edit: it worked a lot better in wide screen, but it hurt like hell.
Great. As if I wasn't wasting enough time on YouTube already, I can now watch Charlie the Unicorn in 3-D?
SenorDunda
The embedded video worked surprisingly well for me. Crossing my eyes, I could actually see a decent 3D video
....until I uncrossed my eyes. Then I had to deal with everything being out of focus for a few minutes. I will say, though, that this actually looks pretty cool. Not having any 3D glasses, I couldn't test out the other modes.
Bert Bronaugh
The demonstration video isn't the best - the two eyes are out of sync, so it hurts any time there's vertical movement. My eyes don't know how to track things that move vertically between the two eyes!
Very Cool gimmick but a gimmick none the less.
I wish the black glasses I got when I saw ice age 3D worked on this... they are the all black ones not the red and blue
@tjjex: Those glasses are polarized. To use them to view 3d you need polarized monitors or two projectors and a reflective screen. The cheapest price I have found these polarized monitors for is at about $400 here: http://www.iz3d.com/t-22monitor.aspx
I'm personally thinking about getting one as I prefer the effects of Polarized 3D over the Anaglyph 3D.
This reminds me of a 3D screen that was out for sale a while ago...
I recall someone saying that you could actually download the driver and that it would work with any monitor... never tried it myself... I no longer use windows :P
anyways, the link:
http://www.iz3d.com/t-dcdriver.aspx
how many of you tried to press the play button on the first screenshot of youtube. lol
Interesting idea, but I don't think it'll fly. How many people have 3d glasses lying around? And how many people want to watch a video cross eyed? hmmm not me.
atomicrabbit